What type of cloud solution does your business need?

The cloud has been a way for many companies to improve the cost effectiveness and efficiency of most of their IT services and infrastructure.

However, if you’re thinking about moving your IT services and infrastructure to the cloud, it’s important to remember that cloud services, while flexible, are not a one-size-fits-all solution – many providers offer a variety of packages to suit the needs of your organisation. But what are the needs of your organisation?

The first step is to analyse them. For example, does your infrastructure need to scale rapidly if you have increased traffic or workload? Or is latency a critical factor for your company? How sensitive is the data your company handles? An in-depth analysis of your business requirements is vital if you want to ensure the cloud solution you choose is the best option for your company.

Once you have defined the key needs of your business, these findings will play a big part in choosing the type of cloud solution that your business needs. What are the different types of cloud solutions that you can choose from?

There are three major type of cloud solutions:

Public - A public cloud is one that may be shared by multiple organisations. Companies like AWS, IBM Cloud or Azure (from Microsoft) balance the needs of multiple clients across their extensive cloud networks, which are available on a global scale. However, this type of cloud may be more vulnerable to attack due to the fact that there are multiple users, which might increase the exposure of the cloud provider to attacks.

Private - A private cloud is one that is offered exclusively to a single organisation. This type of cloud service is mostly aimed at organisations with highly sensitive data and ensures a higher level of security over a public network. However, this security comes at a cost as the organisation will need to pay more for exclusive access to the cloud provider’s resources.

Hybrid - A hybrid cloud is where certain services are placed on a public cloud, while others are placed on a private cloud. This allows an organisation to make use of the advantages of both.

Once you have decided which type of cloud solution is best for your business, you’ll need to take a variety of more specific factors into account. Here’s some of the criteria you should keep an eye out for when choosing a cloud provider:

Security

Depending on the sensitivity of your information, you may need to choose between a public, private or hybrid cloud solution. You also need to ensure that your provider takes the necessary steps to ensure they are compliant with the latest security updates and practices to protect your data.

Costs

Depending on your needs, ensure that you choose a provider that allows you to easily scale your service so that you aren’t spending money on resources you don’t actually need.

Architecture and customisation

Depending on the tools and software you need, certain providers may be able to assist you more easily than others. You also need to keep in mind how much “customisability” the provider offers with the architecture they use.

SLAs and support

In a perfect world you could trust your cloud provider to deal with problems as they arise, but SLA (Service Level Agreements) exist to provide you with legal security should your provider fail to meet the minimum required levels of service.

Latency

Ensuring the lowest latency possible is not the highest priority for many companies, but there are definitely services where it is critical.

By keeping all these elements in mind, you will be on the correct path to choosing a cloud provider that helps you save on costs, improve your existing services and help your organisation grow.